Friday, October 9, 2015

Salt Lake Comic Con 2015!

Hey, folks! Wow, it's been a busy few weeks. I started a new job, which has been keeping me busy. I also got the chance to go to my first Comic Con!

Yes, my first Comic Con. It was also my first time getting a picture with a celebrity who wasn't a writer. (You know, I don't think I even have that. My bad.) And my first time cosplaying, but I only did that one out of the three days.

For those of you who want the abbreviated version of my Comic Con experience, see the post on my other blog I work on collaboratively with my friend Kiersty. That post has a lot more of my thoughts and impressions. This one's longer due to a whole bunch of pictures. Here's the link.

This is my blog, though. MINE! MWAHAHAHAHAHA! So I post a bunch of pictures and details that didn't make the other one.

Also, I promised a link to the Fanundrums blog. Here that is. If you think I'm nerdy on this blog, you should see me over there. But, today, we're talking Comic Con, so the nerdy will be strong with this post.

Okay, let's go:

Thursday, I went up by myself. That's the perk of working at home; I can set my own hours. I did my work early and went up to Comic Con for the evening. It was fun, though a little lonely. I get why people tend to go in groups.

One of the things I did Thursday, well, the only thing worth mentioning, is see the panel with James and Oliver Phelps, also known as Fred and George Weasley. That was fun. I'm used to panels being people debating certain writing procedures or politics in art, because that's more what happens in the conferences I've been to. But a panel where a couple of actors, who are pretty fun guys, answer questions and tell stories about their experiences filming the Harry Potter movies was a new, fun experience. I did go to a panel about dark fairy tales, which was more in keeping with my past experiences. It was good, but I decided to treat Comic Con differently and play around, see celebrities.

Oh, and I went to panel with voice actors, one of which voices this guy:

That was fun.

Friday I went up with friends. We saw two panels with celebrities, or at least, I did. One of my friends had a photo op with James Phelps, so she didn't come. These panels were with Sean Astin (Sam Gamgee from LOTR) and Sebastian Stan (The Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes from Captain America). Can I just say here that I love Sean Astin? I always liked him pretty well because I like his characters, especially Sam, but after seeing him at the panel, I really like him as a person. He's a runner who runs for charity and is an overall nice person. He was very friendly and humble and seemed like someone's cool dad up there, answering questions.

I need to watch the LOTR movies again now. And the Harry Potter movies.

I also took a bunch of pictures, so get ready. Here are some highlights:

Yes, the above Toothless costume is a costume. I promise there was a girl in there. The front legs are her arms.

And a couple more from Friday:

Yeah, that's me, thrilled because I got my very own SHIELD badge. Yes, it has my name and picture on it. And yes, I'm a field agent. A level 4 field agent. I'm wearing the right shirt for it, right?

Me in the TARDIS, back from an epic adventure in medieval Normandy. Details aren't important.

Okay, that was Friday. Saturday was pretty cool, too.

Saturday was the day I cosplayed. My first time. It was kind of last minute; I've been putting together a costume for this Halloween Half Marathon I'm doing, so it was simple and easy, but comfortable to move around in.

Am I killing you with suspense? Okay. Here I am. And here's my character.

Dipper Pines, from Gravity Falls. Here's the detailing on my forehead of the birthmark that gives Dipper his nickname:

I nailed it. The picture of me has it reversed due to camera angles, but it was identical. You can see how it really looked in the next picture.

Okay, moving on. I met up with my friends. We were excited.

We started out the day by seeking out the celebrities. Right off the bat, I found out that Sean Astin was letting people come up and say hi for free. SQUEE! I did that, for sure. He's a friendly man, as I said. Instead of high-fiving us and waving us on (I high-fived Sean Astin!), he commented on my hat. Oh, that was a highlight for sure!

We met a couple more celebs:

My friend Madeleine is the one in silver. She's Quicksilver from X-Men: Days of Future Past. As for the celebs, you can see their names and roles on the banners behind them. (Walter Koenig and Marina Sirtis)

Saturday, I also got two Dresden Files books signed by Jim Butcher, one of my favorite writers. I also met a couple of his (cosplay) characters:

(Harry Dresden and Karrin Murphy. Yay.)

I also learned that one of the perks of cosplaying is finding the other people who are into the same things you are. I found a bunch of other Gravity Falls cosplayers, and I made it a point to get pictures with all of them:

I enjoyed that. I liked finding fellow fans and then actually, sometimes, being asked for my picture too. It made me feel kind of like a celebrity, which cemented my theory that Comic Con is about gong to see and be seen.